U.S. patent number 7,894,457 [Application Number 11/513,676] was granted by the patent office on 2011-02-22 for optical networking module including protocol processing and unified software control.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Null Networks LLC. Invention is credited to Richard A. Booman, I. Claude Denton, James L. Gimlett, Edward L. Hershberg, Scott W. Lowrey, Bruce Murdock, Alfred C. She.
United States Patent |
7,894,457 |
Denton , et al. |
February 22, 2011 |
**Please see images for:
( Certificate of Correction ) ** |
Optical networking module including protocol processing and unified
software control
Abstract
An optical networking module is formed with an integrated module
including optical, optical-electrical and protocol processing
components, and complementary software. In one embodiment, the
integral protocol processing component is a single ASIC and
supports multiple protocols. The module is further equipped with
support control electronics in support of control functions to
manage the optical, optical-electrical as well as the
multi-protocol processing component. The integrated module together
with the complementary control software present to an optical
networking equipment designer/developer a singular component that
handles optical to electrical and electrical to optical conversion,
as well as data link and physical sub-layer processing for a
selected one of a plurality of datacom and telecom protocols,
spanning local, regional as well as wide area networks. The
integrated module and complementary control software further
presents to the optical networking designer/developer a unified
software interface for managing-the various components and
functions.
Inventors: |
Denton; I. Claude (Beaverton,
OR), Murdock; Bruce (Beaverton, OR), Gimlett; James
L. (Tigard, OR), Hershberg; Edward L. (Portland, OR),
Lowrey; Scott W. (Portland, OR), Booman; Richard A.
(Lake Oswego, OR), She; Alfred C. (Beaverton, OR) |
Assignee: |
Null Networks LLC (Las Vegas,
NV)
|
Family
ID: |
25334610 |
Appl.
No.: |
11/513,676 |
Filed: |
August 30, 2006 |
Prior Publication Data
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Document
Identifier |
Publication Date |
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US 20070058985 A1 |
Mar 15, 2007 |
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Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
Issue Date |
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10414115 |
Apr 14, 2003 |
7570650 |
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09861002 |
May 18, 2001 |
6567413 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
370/401;
370/465 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04L
69/12 (20130101); H04L 69/18 (20130101); H04J
3/1617 (20130101); H04J 2203/0085 (20130101); H04J
2203/0089 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
H04L
12/28 (20060101); H04J 3/16 (20060101) |
Field of
Search: |
;370/400-408,465-474
;389/118,135 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Other References
International Search Report, issued in PCT Application No.
PCT/US2002/015800, mailed Aug. 29, 2002. cited by other .
International Preliminary Examination Report, issued in PCT
Application No. PCT/US2002/015800, mailed Oct. 30, 2003. cited by
other .
Office Action, issued in U.S. Appl. No. 09/861,002, mailed Jul. 31,
2002. cited by other .
Office Action, issued in U.S. Appl. No. 09/861,002, mailed Jan. 29,
2003. cited by other .
Notice of Allowance, issued in U.S. Appl. No. 09/861,002, mailed
Mar. 6, 2003. cited by other .
Office Action, issued in U.S. Appl. No. 10/414,115, mailed Feb. 5,
2008. cited by other .
Office Action, issued in U.S. Appl. No. 10/414,115, mailed Jul. 29,
2008. cited by other .
Office Action, issued in U.S. Appl. No. 10/414,115, mailed Jan. 13,
2009. cited by other .
Notice of Allowance, issued in U.S. Appl. No. 10/414,115, mailed
Mar. 27, 2009. cited by other.
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Primary Examiner: Nguyen; Steven H
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt,
P.C.
Parent Case Text
This is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.
10/414,115, filed on Apr. 14, 2003, now issued as U.S. Pat. No.
7,570,650, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser.
No. 09/861,002, filed on May 18, 2001, which has issued as U.S.
Pat. No. 6,567,413.
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. An optical networking module, comprising: an optical component
to send and receive optical signals encoded with data; an
optical-electrical component coupled to the optical component to
encode an egress portion of said data to modulate to optical
signals, and to decode optical signals to provide an ingress
portion of said data; a multi-protocol processor including: a
protocol processor component coupled to the optical-electrical
component to perform at least one of data link or physical
sub-layer processing on at least a portion of said data in
accordance with a selected one of a plurality of protocols; a
control function unit; a processor interface configured to
facilitate provision of control specifications to the control
function unit for managing the optical component,
optical-electrical component and the multi-protocol processor; and
a digital interface separate from the processor interface and
disposed outside of said protocol processor component to support
external software control functions in managing by the control
function unit at least one of said optical and optical-electrical
components; and a body encasing said optical component, said
optical-electrical component, and said protocol processor component
as a single module.
2. The optical network module of claim 1, wherein said external
software control functions include a plurality of static control
functions, and a plurality of dynamic control functions.
3. The optical networking module of claim 2, wherein said static
control functions include at least a selected one of an
initialization and termination function, a protocol selection
function, a configuration function or a module management
function.
4. The optical networking module of claim 2, wherein said dynamic
control functions include at least a selected one of a physical
layer processing request function, an interrupt monitoring and
handling function, or a monitoring function.
5. The optical network module of claim 1, wherein said external
software control functions include at least one static control
function selected from a group consisting of an initialization and
termination function, a protocol selection function, a
configuration function and a module management function.
6. The optical networking module of claim 1, wherein said external
software control functions include at least one dynamic control
function selected from a group consisting of a physical layer
processing request function, an interrupt monitoring and handling
function, and a monitoring function.
7. The optical networking module of claim 1, wherein said optical
network module further comprises supporting control electronics
including selected ones of thermal sensors, power sequencer,
analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog converters to facilitate
said management of said optical and said optical-electrical
components through said digital interface and control function unit
of the multi-protocol processor.
8. The optical network module of claim 7, wherein the digital
interface disposed outside said protocol processor component is
further adapted to support said external software control functions
in managing at least a portion of said support control
electronics.
9. The optical network module of claim 1, wherein said optical and
optical-electrical components and said protocol processor are
adapted to support data rates of at least 10 GB/s.
10. The optical network module of claim 1, wherein said protocol
processor component is configured to support a plurality of datacom
and telecom protocols.
11. A multi-protocol processor, comprising: a plurality of
input/output (I/O) interfaces to transmit or receive data
transmitted in accordance with a selected one of a plurality of
protocols over an optical transmission medium; a plurality of data
link and physical sub-layer processing units selectively coupled to
one another and to the I/O interfaces to be selectively employed in
combination to perform selected data link and physical sub-layer
processing on egress and ingress portions of said data, in
accordance with said selected protocol; a utility interface to
facilitate management of one or more aspects of at least a selected
optical component or optical-electrical component to be used in
tandem with said multi-protocol processor in forming a singular
integrated optical networking module; and a processor interface
separate from the utility interface and configured to facilitate
provision of control specifications to a control function unit for
managing the multi-protocol processor, selected optical component,
and optical-electrical component; wherein the control function unit
is coupled to said plurality of I/O interfaces, said plurality of
data link and physical sub-layer processing units and said utility
interface to facilitate management of said multi-protocol
processor, and said one or more aspects through said plurality of
data link and physical sub-layer processing units, by external
software control functions coupled to said multi-protocol
processor.
12. The processor of claim 11, wherein said external software
control functions comprise a plurality of static control functions
and a plurality of dynamic control functions.
13. The processor of claim 11, wherein said external software
control functions include at least one static control function
selected from a group consisting of an initialization and
termination function, a protocol selection function, a
configuration function and a module management function.
14. The processor of claim 11, wherein said external software
control functions include at least one dynamic control function
selected from a group consisting of a physical layer processing
request function, an interrupt monitoring and handling function,
and a monitoring function.
15. The processor of claim 11, wherein said interfaces, said
control function unit and said plurality of data link and physical
sub-layer processing units are all adapted to support data rates of
at least 10 GB/s.
16. An embedded processor comprising: a storage medium having
stored thereon a plurality of programming instructions configured
to implement a plurality of optical networking module management
functions to manage a protocol processing component included in an
optical networking module and at least one aspect of an optical
component or an optical-electrical component included in the
optical networking module; and an execution unit coupled to the
storage medium and configured to cause executione of the plurality
of programming instructions; wherein the protocol processing
component is included in a multi-protocol processor, the
multi-protocol processor including: a control function unit; a
processor interface configured to facilitate provision of control
specifications to the control function unit for managing the
optical component, optical-electrical component and the
multi-protocol processor; and a digital interface separate from the
processor interface and disposed outside of the protocol processing
component to support external software control functions in
managing by the control function unit at least one of the optical
and optical-electrical components.
17. The embedded processor of claim 16, wherein the plurality of
optical networking module management functions comprise control
functions including a plurality of static control functions or a
plurality of dynamic control functions.
18. The embedded processor of claim 17, wherein said plurality of
static control functions include a static control function selected
from a group consisting of at least one initialization and
termination function, one protocol selection function, one
configuration function, and one module management function.
19. The embedded processor of claim 17, wherein said plurality of
dynamic control functions include a dynamic control function
selected from a group consisting of at least one physical layer
processing request function, one interrupt monitoring and handling
function, and one monitoring function.
20. The embedded processor of claim 16, wherein said optical
networking module is configured to support data rates of at least
10 GB/s.
21. The embedded processor of claim 16, wherein said protocol
processing component of said optical networking module comprises a
multi-protocol processor to support a plurality of protocols.
22. A networking apparatus comprising: a switch; an optical
networking module including an optical component, an
optical-electrical component, supporting control electronics and a
protocol processing component, wherein the optical component, the
optical-electrical component, the supporting control electronics
and the protocol processing component are adapted to cooperate with
one another for facilitating processing of data transmitted between
said switch and an optical transmission medium in accordance with a
selected one of a plurality of protocols; and an embedded processor
coupled to the optical networking module, and having a plurality of
programming instructions configured to implement a plurality of
optical networking module management functions to manage the
protocol processing component and at least one aspect of at least a
selected one of said optical component or said optical-electrical
component through said protocol processing component, wherein the
optical networking module further includes: a control function
unit; a processor interface configured to facilitate provision of
control specifications to the control function unit for managing
the optical component, optical-electrical component and the
protocol processing component; and a digital interface separate
from the processor interface and disposed outside of said protocol
processing component to support external software control functions
in managing by the control function unit at least one of said
optical and optical-electrical components via the supporting
control electronics.
23. The networking apparatus of claim 22, wherein said optical
networking module management functions comprise a plurality of
static control functions, and a plurality of dynamic control
functions.
24. The networking apparatus of claim 23, wherein said plurality of
static control functions include a static control function selected
from a group consisting of an initialization and termination
function, a protocol selection function, a configuration function,
and a module management function.
25. The networking apparatus of claim 23, wherein said plurality of
dynamic control functions include a dynamic control function
selected from the group consisting of a physical layer processing
request function, an interrupt monitoring and handling function,
and a monitoring function.
26. A method, comprising: receiving by an optical component, an
optical signal encoded with data transmitted in accordance with at
least one protocol; performing by a protocol processor component
coupled to the optical component and included in a single module
together with the optical component, at least one of data link or
physical sub-layer processing on at least a portion of the data in
accordance with a selected one of a plurality of protocols; and
implementing at least in part by an embedded processor, a plurality
of static control functions and a plurality of dynamic control
functions to manage the protocol processor component and the
optical component, wherein management of the protocol processor
component and the optical component are facilitated by a control
function unit and a processor interface configured to facilitate
provision of control specifications to the control function unit
for managing the optical component and the protocol processor
component; wherein management of the protocol processor component
and the optical component are further facilitated by a digital
interface separate from the processor interface and disposed
outside of said protocol processor component to support the
plurality of static control functions and a plurality of dynamic
control functions implemented at least in part by the embedded
processor.
27. The method of claim 26 wherein the embedded processor is
coupled to the single module including the protocol processor
component and the optical component.
28. The method of claim 26, further comprising decoding the data on
the optical signal into digital form by an optical electrical
component.
29. The method of claim 28 further comprising managing said optical
electrical component via said utility interface.
30. An apparatus, comprising: means for receiving an optical signal
encoded with data transmitted in accordance with at least one
protocol; means for performing at least one of data link or
physical sub-layer processing on at least a portion of the data in
accordance with a selected one of a plurality of protocols;
processor interface means configured to facilitate provision of
control specifications to a control function unit for managing the
means for receiving the optical signal and the means for performing
the at least one of data link or physical sub-layer processing;
digital interface means separate from the processor interface means
for supporting external software control functions in managing by
the control function unit the means for receiving the optical
signal; and embedded processor means for implementing the external
software control functions including a plurality of static control
functions and a plurality of dynamic control functions to manage
the means for receiving the optical signal and the means for
performing the at least one of data link or physical sub-layer
processing.
31. The apparatus of claim 30, further comprising means for
decoding the data encoded on the optical signal into digital form.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of networking. More
specifically, the present invention relates to optical networking
module employed in high speed network trafficking equipment, such
as 10 gigabit optical-electrical routers or switches.
2. Background Information
With advances in integrated circuit, microprocessor, networking and
communication technologies, increasing number of devices, in
particular, digital computing devices, are being networked
together. Devices are often first coupled to a local area network,
such as an Ethernet based office/home network. In turn, the local
area networks are interconnected together through wide area
networks, such as SONET networks, ATM networks, Frame Relays, and
the like. Of particular importance is the TCP/IP based global
inter-network, the Internet. Historically, data communication
protocols specified the requirements of local/regional area
networks, whereas telecommunication protocols specified the
requirements of the regional/wide area networks. The rapid growth
of the Internet has fueled a convergence of data communication
(datacom) and telecommunication (telecom) protocols and
requirements. It is increasingly important that data traffic be
carried efficiently across local, regional and wide area
networks.
As a result of this trend of increased connectivity, increasing
number of applications that are network dependent are being
deployed. Examples of these network dependent applications include
but are not limited to, the world wide web, email, Internet based
telephony, and various types of e-commerce and enterprise
applications. The success of many content/service providers as well
as commerce sites depend on high speed delivery of a large volume
of data across wide areas. In turn, the trend leads to increased
demand for high speed data trafficking equipment, such as high
speed optical-electrical routers or switches and so forth.
In the early generations of optical-electrical networking
trafficking equipment, separate individual optical,
optical-electrical and protocol processing components were
employed. Moreover, multiple protocol processing components had to
be employed, as each component performed data link and physical
sub-layer processing for a corresponding protocol. Further, these
separate components were typically developed or available from
different vendors, with each component having its own approach and
interface to configuration and operational management. As a result,
an optical network trafficking equipment designer/manufacturer has
had to work and deal with the optical, electrical and protocol
processing aspects separately, as separate components, and often
via very different interfaces. As system complexity and data rates
have increased, this engineering challenge has become increasingly
difficult to solve, resulting in time-to-market and cost
disadvantages.
Recently, some component suppliers, such as Network Elements, Inc,
of Beaverton, Oreg., have begun to offer optical network modules
that integrate the optical and optical-electrical components.
Representatives of these integrated modules are Network Elements'
ONM10PHY and ONM10PHYOXC optical networking modules. These
integrated modules are designed for high speed optical networking
applications in the realm of 10 Gb/s DWDM, SONET/SDH, and Ethernet
LAN and WAN. These integrated modules perform physical layer
functions such as optical-to-electrical and electrical-to-optical
conversion, clock and data recovery, transmit clock multiplication,
serialization and deserialization functions.
While the availability of these integrated components improve the
productivity of high speed network traffic equipment designers, the
handling of data link and physical sub-layer processing for
different protocols have fundamentally remained the
responsibilities of separate ASICs from different vendors. At 10
Gb/s and beyond, the integration of these processing ASICs with
optoelectronic and software systems becomes increasingly difficult,
even as the continuing growth of the Internet demands faster time
to market and higher system flexibility. A need exists to reduce
the complexity of designing optical network trafficking
equipment.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An optical networking module is formed with an integrated module
including optical, optical-electrical, and protocol processing
components, and complementary control software. In one embodiment,
the integral protocol processing component is a single ASIC and
processes multiple protocols with data rates of at least 10 Gb/s.
The module is further equipped with support control electronics in
support of control functions to manage the optical,
optical-electrical as well as the multi-protocol processing
component.
The integrated module together with the complementary control
software present to an optical networking equipment
designer/developer a singular component that handles optical to
electrical and electrical to optical conversion, as well as data
link and physical sub-layers processing for a selected one of a
plurality of datacom and telecom protocols, spanning local,
regional as well as wide area networks. The integrated module and
complementary control software further present to the optical
networking designer/developer a unified software interface for
managing the various components and functions.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
The present invention will be described by way of exemplary
embodiments, but not limitations, illustrated in the accompanying
drawings in which like references denote similar elements, and in
which:
FIG. 1 illustrates an overview of the optical networking module of
the present invention, in accordance with one embodiment;
FIG. 2 illustrates the multi-protocol network processor of FIG. 1
in further details, in accordance with one embodiment;
FIG. 3 illustrates an optical networking equipment incorporated
with the optical networking module of the present invention;
and
FIG. 4 illustrates the static and dynamic networking functions of
FIG. 2 in further details, in accordance with one embodiment.
GLOSSARY
TABLE-US-00001 10Gbase-LR 64/66 coded 1310 nm LAN standard for 10
Gigabit Ethernet 10Gbase-LW 64/66 coded SONET encapsulated 1310 nm
WAN standard for 10 Gigabit Ethernet ASIC Application Specific
Integrated Circuit DWDM Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing
Egress Outgoing data path from the system to the network FCS Frame
Check Sequence HDLC High-level Data Link Control. A communication
protocol used in Packet over SONET switching network. Ingress
Incoming data path from the network to the system IP Internet
Protocol LAN Local Area Network LVDS Low voltage differential
signal MAC Media Access Control layer, defined for Ethernet systems
OIF Optical Internetworking Forum POS Packet over SONET PPP Point
to Point Protocol SDH Synchronous Digital Hierarchy SONET
Synchronous Optical network, a PHY telecommunication protocol SPI-4
System Packet Interface Level 4 (also POS-PHY 4) SSTL Stub Series
Terminated Logic XGMII 10 Gb Media Independent Interface WAN Wide
Area Network
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
In the following description, various aspects of the present
invention will be described. However, it will be apparent to those
skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced with
only some or all aspects of the present invention. For purposes of
explanation, specific numbers, materials and configurations are set
forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present
invention. However, it will also be apparent to one skilled in the
art that the present invention may be practiced without the
specific details. In other instances, well known features are
omitted or simplified in order not to obscure the present
invention. Further, the description repeatedly uses the phrase "in
one embodiment", which ordinarily does not refer to the same
embodiment, although it may.
Overview
Referring now to FIG. 1, wherein a block diagram illustrating the
integrated optical networking module of the present invention, in
accordance with one embodiment, is shown. As illustrated,
integrated optical networking module 100 of the present invention
includes optical components 102, optical-electrical components 104,
support control electronics 105, and protocol processor 106,
coupled to each other as shown. Protocol processor 106 includes in
particular, a number of interfaces and processing units 110,
control function unit 108, processor interface 107 and utility
interface 109 coupled to each other and components 102-104 as
shown. In one embodiment, protocol processor 106 supports multiple
datacom and telecom protocols.
Optical components 102 are employed to facilitate the sending and
receiving of optical signals encoded with data transmitted in
accordance with a selected one of a plurality of protocols known in
the art. Optical-electrical components 104 are employed to encode
the egress data onto the optical signals, and decode the encoded
ingress data. Examples of such protocols include but are not
limited to SONET/SDH, 10Gbase-LR, 10Gbase-LW, Ethernet on SONET,
Packet on SONET, and so forth. Support control electronics 105 are
employed to facilitate management of the various aspects of optical
components 102 and optical-electrical components 104.
Multi-protocol processor 106 is employed to perform data link and
physical sub-layer processing on the egress and ingress data in
accordance with a selected one of a plurality of supported
protocols, and to facilitate management of the multi-protocol
processor 106 itself and optical, optical-electrical components 102
and 104 (through support control electronics 105).
In a preferred embodiment, multi-protocol processor 106 is
implemented in the form of an ASIC. Optical components 102,
optical-electrical components 104, support control electronics 105
and multi-protocol processor ASIC 106 are encased in a body (not
shown) forming a singular optical networking module, with provided
software forming a singular control interface for all
functionality. That is, in addition to being equipped to provide
optical to electrical and electrical to optical conversions, clock
and data recovery, and so forth, integrated optical networking
module 100 is also equipped to provide data link and physical
sub-layer processing on egress and ingress data selectively for a
number of protocols.
Further, in the preferred embodiment, control function unit 108
also includes control features, i.e. control registers and the like
(not shown), in conjunction with support control electronics 105 to
support a number of control functions for managing optical
components 102, optical-electrical components 104 as well as
multi-process protocol ASIC 106. Processor interface 107 is
employed to facilitate provision of control specifications to
control function unit 108, whereas utility interface 109 (a digital
interface) is employed to facilitate management of components 102
and 104 by control function unit 108 (by way of support control
electronics 105). The complementary control functions are placed
with an embedded processor of an optical networking equipment
employing integrated optical network module 100 of the present
invention (FIGS. 3 & 4). That is, integrated optical networking
module 100 of the present invention (the illustrated embodiment)
also advantageously presents a singular unified software interface
to optical networking equipment designers and developers to manage
configuration and operation of the optical and electrical
components, as well as protocol processing. As those skilled in the
art would appreciate, as a result of the novel integration and
unified presentation of these functions, the complexity of
designing optical networking equipment, such as optical-electrical
routers, switches, and the like, is reduced.
Before further describing the present invention, it should be noted
that while inclusion of control processor 108, processor interface
107 and utility interface 109 with multi-protocol processor ASIC
106 is preferred, the present invention may nevertheless be
practiced with some or all of the control function and the
associated interfaces disposed away from multi-protocol processor
ASIC 106 (but within integrated optical networking module 100), so
long the desired unified experience for managing the optical,
electrical and protocol processing aspects is substantially
maintained.
* * * * *